Thursday, January 24, 2013

Summary - Episode Six: Tough Times in Tribute

Season One, Episode 6: Tough Times in Tribute

Wherein our heroes took their leave of the Elf Lord, Bearach, and his Wyld Desert and journeyed to the Ashen Kingdom metropolis of Tribute...After defeating the Ogre and satisfying the debt owed by Jarl Stanbern to Bearach, Thane Hinrik negotiated a deal of his own with the Elf. The company then journeyed on to the Monastery of Blessed Immaculate Purity, Temple of the Goddess Inanna, home of the finest healers in both the Free Valleys and Ashen Kingdom. Once they were at the temple, they found the price asked of the Priests there too steep, as they did not wish to stay a month doing penance, worship and purification in exchange for their healing. Fortunately for our heroes, there was a Brother of the House of Transference who directed our heroes to said establishment deep in the slums of the Mount Hunger in Tribute where healing could be procured quickly for a price the company was more willing to pay.

Once in Tribute, Hinrik, Trent and Mercutio, the most injured of the party, traveled through the desperate poverty of Mount Hunger to the dilapidated warehouse which held the House of Transference. Once there, they turned over a modest amount of treasure in order to have their wounds removed, ripped painfully from their bodies and transferred onto the Hopeful, impoverished persons willing to take on the wounds of others in exchange for money.

The company then met with the Steel Lady, leader of the Everburning Cinder, where they learned of an unruly 'rebellion' to the South, unaffiliated with the Everburning Cinder, that was causing trouble for both the Ashen Kingdom and the Everburning Cinder. This second rebellion, calling itself Zwaardgeesten, is led by a Priest of Elagablus, a previously unknown deity, rumored to be new in origin. This unruly mob killed several operatives of the Everburning Cinder who were on the verge locating important information about where the Witchlord was imprisoning sorcerers.

After their meeting with the Steel Lady, the company split, with Norah searching for her mother and brother, Hardwick went in search of sorcerous shops, Corrie entertaining in an inn to earn some extra money and listen to the local gossip, while Mercutio, Hinrik, Sorina and Trent went in search of drink and 'companionship'. Norah found a thread leading to her brother and mother. Trent quickly became blackout drunk and disappeared in the company of a local young noblewoman. When Trent awoke he found himself in the Steel Lady's manor, where her sorcerous adviser caught him attempting to sneak away. During his discussion with the sorcerer, Trent realized he needed to convince the rest of the company to travel south in search of the information lost when the Zwaardgeesten mob slew the Everburning Cinder cell.

Norah confronted her brother Kaden Lawrence, going by the name Kaden Shaw, having tracked him down to the inn he was staying in after considerable effort and confronted him about being the Ashen Kingdom's mole in the Everburning Cinder, identified in the papers as KS. When he confessed he begged Norah for money so he could flee north rather than be killed. She was unwilling to just provide him money, so he fled. Norah enlisted the aid of Mercutio in tracking Kaden, and Mercutio enlisted the aid of several young street urchins. Mercutio located Kaden's hideout, where he was apparently in the midst of a meeting with a person named Barker, negotiating selling out the Everburning Cinder to yet another as yet unknown group. Mercutio sent word back to the company who all came to ambush Kaden and Barker and that is where our thrilling adventure shall pick back up in the next episode... Swords and Secrets!

Closing Credits: The Young Gods, Dälek "I'm the Drug" from Limited Box
.